


mall teens

by clicheusername5678



Series: Catradora Oneshots [10]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F, also i diss riverdale a lot, but there's a happy cute gay ending!, literally so many tropes and cliches it's so fluffy this fic is good for your heart, modern high school au, they both work at the mall, they have some drama bc it's catradora
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 09:13:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18891595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clicheusername5678/pseuds/clicheusername5678
Summary: Catra and Adora are high school seniors, working at Hot Topic and Bright Moon Boba Tea respectively. They’re both clueless disasters, and their friends are getting pretty tired of waiting for them to make up and make out.





	mall teens

Catra’s been working at Hot Topic for the past few months, one or two days a week after school and constantly on the weekends. She figures the job suits her, in that angsty teenage way, although the store is more nerd culture now than it was in the early 2000’s. Still, she doesn’t mind most of the music on the shop radio and she’s encouraged to wear fingerless gloves on the job. And her manager, Scorpia, lets her get away with plenty of slacking.

On this particular Tuesday afternoon, Catra enjoys the deadness of the store (due to lack of customers, in addition to the death-themed products). She stands behind the counter, her chin in one hand, the other tapping a pen to the beat of a Green Day song.

“Hey, Kitty!” Scorpia greets her, exiting the back room with an armful of discounted tees.

Catra rolls her eyes, facing away so Scorpia can’t see it. “I told you, don’t call me that—”

“Whoops, sorry, it’s just so… Catra! Your name is  _Catra!_ I still can’t get over it.”

The high school senior glances down at her nametag. “Yep. That sure is my name.”

The story’s actually pretty simple: her parents allowed her older brother to name her, probably to lessen the blow of no longer being the only child. And being the idiot six-year-old he was, he took one look at the family cat and exclaimed… well, you know.

As far as names go, it’s unfortunately on the nose—Catra is sullen and introverted, with big messy hair and long nails painted black. Not that she wouldn’t cut them, given the right opportunity.

“How was school?” Scorpia asks, sliding behind the counter.

Catra shrugs. “Fine.”

“Any customers?”

“A few.”

Scorpia sighs and begins sorting the pins in the one-dollar display. “Any sales?”

“Yeah,” Catra says, “buy-one-get-one-free’s doing good.”

“The fun corporate term is ‘BOGO,’” Scorpia says, grinning. “Oh, I love that!”

Catra’s sarcastic reply is interrupted by a group of customers entering the store: three teenagers, all familiar. Bob, Glitter, and… Adora.

Catra frowns even deeper than before and pretends to be invested in the sales totals on the register monitor. Scorpia raises an eyebrow as the group huddles by the sparkly-unicorn-bullshit display.

“You know it’s a part of your job to greet the customers, right? I like you, kid, but I’ve gotta see some effort here.”

Catra winces. “Scorpia, please… I’ll explain later, okay?”

“Ooookay. Bad history or something?”

“I  _said_ —”

“Excuse me,” says Glitter, standing suddenly in front of the counter. Catra raises her head, cheeks burning.

“What?”

Scorpia clears her throat.

“Uh, I mean, how can I help you, ma’am?”

Glitter raises an eyebrow. “Adora says you’ve been ignoring her, and she’s being all weird about it.”

“Sorry, we don’t sell that here. Why don’t you try Spencers?”

“Catra,” Glitter groans. “Look, you’re her best friend, why can’t you both just figure this out like normal people…”

“Normal people named ‘Glimmer?’”

“Pfft, okay, Catra.”

“Fair enough, Sparkles,” Catra snarks, stretching her arms over her head. “Well, since you three obviously have no intention of making a purchase here, why don’t you tell Adora that I’m still perfectly fine ignoring her.”

“Yep, that’s what I thought you’d say,” Glitter says. “And the dumbest part is, she still wants to give you this.”

Glitter slams a plastic cup onto the counter, filled with a milky-brown liquid and small glasslike balls. The logo on the cup reads ‘Bright Moon Boba Tea.’

Catra scowls for a second before bursting into cold laughter. “Keep it,” she says. “Hell, give it to Adora. It’s what she chose.”

Glimmer groans. “You’re ridiculous! It’s just a job, she still obviously wants to be your friend!”

“Clearly not enough to come over here herself,” Catra shouts, glaring over at Bow and Adora. Adora frowns, her face red, and looks down at her shoes.

“I’ll never get what she sees in you,” Glimmer says haughtily, turning on her heel.

Catra has no response to that, her fist tensing beneath the counter. Deep breaths,  _1… 2… 3…_

Glitter returns to Adora and Bow, speaking lowly. Adora sighs and nods, allowing the group to leave. Catra turns to face the back of the store, crossing her arms, as she focuses on the angry rock vocals.

Seconds pass in the empty store. Finally, Scorpia speaks.

“So… wanna explain that?”

Catra sighs and stretches her back, hands on the counter, ironically catlike in form. “Do I have to?”

“Kind of, yeah.”

“Fine,” Catra says. “Adora and I have been close since we were kids. Senior year’s been hard because we’re both busy with extracurricular bullshit, and in my case, work. She has a different group of friends than me—you just saw ‘em over by the unicorn display, minus a few. A couple of months ago Adora was saying that she wanted to start working, but instead of applying  _here_ to work with  _me_ , she signed up at Glitter’s mom’s boba tea place.”

Scorpia looks down at the drink. “Hence the…?”

“Ooh, ‘hence,’ fancy word,” Catra says coolly, putting her head in her hands. “I’m being a stubborn jerk about it, sure, but after years of being her little sidekick, it was just the last straw.”

“Well, you know I support you, wildcat,” Scorpia says, dusting the counter’s ledge with her sleeve, “but teenage angst is bad for business, even at Hot Topic. Just try not to let it get into the way of excellent customer service.”

Catra blows a chunk of dark hair out of her face. “Yeah, all right.”

Scorpia turns away and heads back to the back room to do inventory. Catra stares down the cup of boba tea for a moment and then bats it into the trash.

~

A few days later Catra works again, drawing in her notebook under the counter.

“Hey there,” says a customer, breaking her concentration. A guy she recognizes from school places a container of moustache polish on the counter.

“Oh, Sea Hawk,” Catra says, scanning the item. “Find everything you were looking for today?”

“Oh, yes!” the guy exclaims with his usual bravado. “In fact, I have!”

Then he places another goddamn cup of boba tea on the counter, this time mint green. Catra sighs as she shoves the moustache polish in a black plastic bag.

“Adora sent you?”

“Actually, Mermista did!” Sea Hawk says, taking any opportunity to mention his blue-haired girlfriend.

“So Adora asked her to send you.”

“Perhaps!”

Sea Hawk passes Catra his debit card and she runs it in a blur.

“Here,” she tells him, returning the card and handing him his bag. Sea Hawk doesn’t leave, though, standing awkwardly at the counter.

“What.”

“Mermista said that Adora doesn’t want me to leave until I see you drink the boba.”

Catra smirks and picks up the cup. After a few teasing seconds, she plops it in the trash.

Sea Hawk raises an eyebrow. “Did you just place it behind the counter to drink later, or…?”

“I dropped it in the garbage, dumbass.”

“Oh. Yeah, all right.”

“Have a nice day,” Catra says, grinning toothily.

~

“She’s being stupid,” Glimmer says as she passes Adora the box of tapioca pearls. Adora hoists it easily over her shoulder, carrying it to Bow, who stands at the counter of Bright Moon Boba.

“Thanks,” Bow says as Adora places the box down. “I was running out.”

“No problem,” Adora grins as she tightens her high ponytail. She wipes her hands on her apron and returns to Glimmer, who stands in the small supply alcove behind their stand in the mall food court.

“You were saying?” she asks breezily, starting up new batches of black and jasmine tea.

“Catra,” Glimmer says tiredly. “You  _know_ what I was saying: she’s the worst. I know you guys have been friends forever, or  _what_ ever, but she’s being mean and toxic and you deserve better than this obsession you’ve got with her!”

“Glim, I love you, but you can’t just throw around the word ‘toxic’ because you saw it in a twitter post once,” Adora says, narrowing her eyes. “She’s just stubborn. I think she sees my taking this job as rejecting her, or choosing you guys over her.”

“But that’s so not it!” Glimmer shouts. “You do stuff together all the time. I’ve had to literally tell people you’re not, like,  _dating_.”

Adora tries to hide her face as the blush spreads. “I’ve been trying to make it up to her,” she says. “With the tea. I don’t know, I’m just bad at the talking stuff.”

“Maaaayyyyyyyyybe it’s because you’ve both been crushing on each other for the past, like, five years, but lack any communication skills whatsoever?”

“I communicate fine!” Adora argues. “I only sent Sea Hawk over because I’m on the clock!”

“You guys synced your Google calendars. I’m pretty sure you could have just stopped by during one of her shifts to talk to her yourself.”

“They’re only synced because of field hockey practice in the fall,” Adora says stiffly, although she does check up on Catra’s schedule more than she would like to admit.

“I’m just saying,” Glimmer says. “Your relationship with Catra is important to you, and clearly you’re important to her… that’s why she’s being such a dick. You’ve been fighting for a month and you’ve been super unhappy. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not Catra’s biggest fan, but I can tell you’re better off when things are cool between you two. And, Adora, we’re seniors! Things are gonna get so much more complicated once we go to college. As much as it pains me to say it, you should probably lock her down as soon as you can… and make sure she’s up to being a little more mature when you guys have dumb fights in the future.”

Adora groans and rests her head on the counter. “This is hard…”

“Only ‘cuz you care so much,” Glimmer reasons. “Oh, the tea—”

“Yeah, I know, ‘and that’s the tea…’”

“No, Adora!” Glimmer shouts, running over the pots on the boiler. “The  _tea_!”

Adora jumps and runs over to the pots, luckily in time to pull them off the heat. She pours the contents into the appropriate pitchers and wipes the sweat off her brow.

“And we’re not dating,” Adora says softly, frowning at the ground. “We’ve never been. I don’t think Catra likes me… like that.”

“I think you’d be surprised,” Glimmer says.

“Do you think that’s why she was so hurt?” Adora asks. “When I chose to work here?”

“I mean, that’s just ‘cuz she’s a stubborn, inflexible jerk,” Glimmer reasons, sipping a pink drink she made herself. “But yeah.”

“We did kiss that one time…” Adora says, playing with the waist of her pink apron. Glimmer spits out her drink.

“You  _what?!_ ”

“Oh, yeah, we kissed at homecoming. After Bow’s party. Then things were kinda awkward, and we didn’t talk for a few days, and I applied here… and next thing I know, she’s ignoring me.”

Glimmer coughs, her tea and a few balls of tapioca splattering onto the counter.

Adora frowns at her friend incredulously. “What?”

“Adora…” Glimmer says. “You absolute fucking idiot.”

~

A few hours later and Catra’s still working, waiting for Scorpia to come in for the later shift. She isn’t completely alone with the customers, though, because one of the mall’s technicians is fixing a broken light by the sales racks.

“How’s Adora?” asks Entrapta, whose technical know-how and limited social graces qualified her for a repair position rather than retail.

Catra shakes her head, startled. “Why do you ask?”

“You guys are close, right?” Entrapta asks from atop a silver ladder. The woman is thirty-something years old and only 4’9, her purple pigtails currently wrapped in efficient space buns. Catra knows that Entrapta has some other jobs, and suspects that several of them involve mad science this world isn’t quite ready for.

“Uh,” Catra says, playing with her hands.

“I recall, the last time we spoke, you reported your closeness to a girl named Adora,” Entrapta specifies. “Is this incorrect?”

“Yeah, no, you’re right,” Catra says, remembering her last encounter with Entrapta.  _Before_ Homecoming. “I’m kind of ignoring her right now. For reasons.”

“Well, that’s a shame,” Entrapta says. “She seemed to make you very happy. Or, at least, that’s what your tone of voice and body language indicated.”

And with that, Entrapta turns back to the light, leaving Catra frowning even more than usual.

“Yeah…”

Catra’s been in love with Adora since middle school, and she’s been out of denial about it since sophomore year. So when Adora finally broke the tension between them at Bow’s party last month, and then ghosted her and got a job separate from her, Catra could only come to one conclusion: Adora wasn’t into it. Wasn’t into Catra, in that way. And Catra knows, after that goddamn kiss—awkward, sloppy, but still good because it was  _Adora_ —she can never go back to just being Adora’s friend.

And, before the whole tea thing, it seemed like Adora felt the same way. But now she was hanging out by the store, trying to give Catra gifts… sending these dumb mixed signals, trying to torture her ex-best-friend, get under her skin…

 _No_ , Catra reminds herself.  _Adora could never be that cruel_. Catra’s the tough one, after all, between them.

Then why does  _she_ feel so goddamn hurt?

“You have customers,” Entrapta says, startling Catra out of her spiral. She looks up to face Bow and Glimmer… without Adora.

Catra sighs and pulls out the trash can from behind the counter. “Just drop it in yourself,” she says.

Bow raises an eyebrow and Glimmer scowls. “We don’t have any tea for you.”

“Oh, so you’re actually here to shop? Color me surprised. We’ve got some great fifty-cent glitter nail polish, and the  _Riverdale_ display is over there. You sure do seem like someone who’d enjoy  _Riverdale_ , Sparkles.”

Glimmer groans. “Just shut up and listen, okay? We’re not here on Adora’s behalf. Well, we kind of are, but she didn’t ask us to come.”

“Fine,” Catra scowls. “Speak.”

“She feels awful,” Glimmer says, “about what happened between you two. She kissed you, and then didn’t know how to talk to you, and then took the job at Bright Moon, and she didn’t realize you’d take it badly—”

“Really?” Catra begins, but rolls her eyes after a second. “Okay, it  _is_ Adora we’re talking about.”

“She likes you, Catra,” Glimmer says, Bow nodding behind her. “Always has.”

“It’s always been pretty obvious, honestly,” Bow adds.

“Even from what I’ve heard,” Entrapta contributes from her ladder.

Catra can feel her heart racing, her cheeks turning red, and her immediate impulse is to make it stop. Make it neutral, calm, cool.

But Adora  _likes_ her. She was just being dumb, and Catra is stubborn and stupid.

“It’s not too late to fix things,” Glimmer says, surprisingly earnest. “That’s all we’re here to say.”

Catra can barely speak. “I was so mean to you guys.”

“Eh, we know you’re harmless,” Bow says, making a dismissive motion. “And besides, Adora says that’s how you show affection sometimes.”

Catra runs a hand through her hair, still blushing. “Still. Sorry.”

“Adora’s closing alone tonight,” Glimmer says, her expression softer than before. “You should visit her. And, y’know, actually try to communicate like human people.”

“I’ve heard of those,” Entrapta comments with mild interest.

“I’ll stop by Bright Moon after my shift,” Catra says. “Thank you.”

Glimmer nods and Bow grins. “Senior year’s gonna be awesome!” he exclaims.

Catra rubs her neck and tries to muster a bright smile. “Haha, yeah!”

“We should get back to the stand,” Glimmer says. “But first… well, you have a sale so I  _am_ , in fact, gonna check out the  _Riverdale_ stuff.”

“She has awful taste, but I watch it with her anyway,” Bow says solemnly to Catra. “At least Cole Sprouse is hot.”

The pair heads to the display, chattering about the latest inane plotline in the 2010’s imitation of _Twin Peaks_. Catra’s hands shake, so she grabs a red gel pen—using it, she doodles herself and Adora on a scrap of receipt paper.

Between them, she draws a heart.

~

Okay, here she goes.

“Have fun talking to Adora!” Scorpia says as Catra clocks out on the register. Catra hasn’t stopped blushing for the past two hours and twenty-six minutes (she’s counted), but somehow she turns redder than before.

“AhhaAAHAHA yeah, bye Scorpia!” she says, hoisting herself over the counter. She accidentally knocks over a figurine in the process and rearranges it apologetically.

Catra rushes out of the Hot Topic, past the Gap, Justice, and Starbucks, until she reaches the Etheria Mall food court. She takes a deep breath, adjusts her shirt, and makes sure her ripped jeans are tucked into her combat boots. She takes her lanyard and shoves it in her back pocket, rips off her nametag and tucks it in her bra.

 _Okay_ , Catra thinks to herself.  _You can do this. Talk about your feelings. For Adora, to Adora. Your best friend since childhood. After being a total jerk for a month._

Catra frowns. Maybe she should get a soft pretzel before…

She considers it for a second, until she hears the cat-calls.

Catra’s head whips around to see Adora, working at Bright Moon alone, with an entire cup’s contents spilled down her white shirt. Her chest isn’t subtle, and the two middle school boys by the register seem more than pleased by this turn of events.

“Hey, sexy!” one exclaims as Catra stalks over. “Wanna take off the apron?”

Adora blushes, speechless and in shock. Catra growls and rolls up her sleeves, grabbing one of the guys by the shoulder—hard.

“Shut the fuck up,” she hisses.

“We’re just waiting for our drinks,” says the second guy, looking Catra up and down.

Catra groans in outrage and rips her hands off the dude’s shoulder. Meanwhile, Adora comes to her senses.

“I’ll make a new one,” she mutters, overwhelmed.

Catra snarls. “Fuck, no! These guys are assholes.”

“They already paid.”

“Yeah,” said one of the guys, “what she said.”

“Adora!” Catra says, hoisting herself over the counter, this time making a graceful landing. She takes the blonde by the wrists, Adora’s eyes going wide.

“God—Catra!” Adora exclaims, ripping her arms away. “I just want them to go away!”

“And they will,” Catra says, standing between Adora and the ingredients. “ _Without_ their drinks.”

Adora groans and rolls her eyes. “Ugh, you’re so stubborn!”

The two boys looked at each other awkwardly. “Not sure if this is hot,” the taller guy said.

“Maybe if they were making out?”

“SHUT UP!” Catra and Adora shouted in unison.

“Whatever,” says the shorter guy. “This blows. I want to hit Spencer’s before everything closes.”

“Haha, yeah, to look at the…?”

“Yeah, and the…”

Catra grabs the ‘closed’ sign from behind Adora’s head and places it on the counter. “And look at that,” she says, “you’d better hurry! Enjoy the dildos and lingerie, fellas!”

The boys shift uncomfortably in their sneakers and immediately make themselves scarce. Catra sighs and turns to a fuming Adora.

“Can you  _believe_ those fuckwads?”

“I could have handled it,” Adora says sorely. “But thanks.”

“Sorry, I…” Catra begins to say, rubbing her arm nervously. “Oh! Your shirt! Uh, do you have an extra, or paper towels, or…?”

Adora turns red when she notices Catra’s wandering gaze. Catra looks up suddenly, realizing it herself.

“Yeah, gimme a second,” Adora says, turning to the back alcove. “I’ve got a sweatshirt in my backpack…”

“Yeah, sure, cool,” Catra says, blushing  _again_. She awkwardly picks up a tapioca ball between two nails and plops it in her mouth.

Catra enters the employee’s alcove, out of the food court’s sight. There Adora stands, now wearing a red hoodie. Catra raises an eyebrow.

“Hey, Adora? Pretty sure that’s mine.”

Adora blushes and blinks. “Oh man, yeah, it is.”

“And you’re still wearing it? Even though we’ve been fighting for a month?”

“Well, it… it reminds me of you,” Adora says, her hands disappearing in the long sleeves.

Catra smiles and leans against the counter, laughing lowly. “Oh my god, we’re so dumb.”

Adora gives her a small smile. “Yeah… I’m guessing you got a visit from Glimmer and Bow earlier?”

“They told me that you wanted to talk. About the kiss. And everything else.”

“Listen,” Adora says, “I’m an idiot. I’ve liked you for so long, okay? And then I finally worked up the nerve to kiss you, and we weren’t sober, and I felt dumb for doing it when we couldn’t, y’know, truly enjoy it… so I got mad at myself, and didn’t message you for a few days, and then Angella offered me this job, and it pays _so well_ —”

Catra takes Adora’s hands and looks her in the eyes. “Hey, Adora,” she says. “It’s okay. The kiss, the job, all of it. I was stupid for being all grudge-y. And… I’ve missed you so much.”

Adora’s eyes widen. “Me too. I mean, I missed you, I didn’t miss myself—”

“Oh my god,” Catra says, using one hand to cup Adora’s face. “I like you so much.”

“I know, me too! Ugh, I mean—”

“I know what you mean.”

Catra kisses Adora, and there isn’t an ounce of confusion in it.

Adora pulls away, her eyes narrowed. Catra gives her the widest grin.

“Did you… store a ball of boba in your mouth, just to slide it in  _my_ mouth while we kissed?”

“Well, I figured we’d either end up fighting or kissing, and it’d be useful either way.”  

“Useful… fighting?”

Catra picks up a straw from the supply cabinet and popped another tapioca ball in her mouth. “Come on,” she says, “you can’t tell me you, Bow, and Glimmer don’t get into spitball fights all the time.”

“Not really,” Adora says, mystified. “That seems more like a ‘you’ idea.”

Catra sticks out her tongue and spits the ball at Adora through the straw. It hits her right on the forehead.

“I win,” Catra teases.

Adora takes her by the waist and kisses her. Catra kisses back, dropping the straw and grabbing at Adora’s hair.

“Okay,” Catra amends as she backs up onto the counter, “maybe we both win.”

“Hey, Catra?” Adora whispers in the other girl’s ear. “Stop talking.”

And so she does.

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on tumblr @ hey-adora or twitter @ heyadorah
> 
> thanks to sandy for looking this over!!


End file.
